Red Red Wine

At the tail end of our trip, we drove up to Sonoma seeking excellent food, relaxation and delicious wine. We stayed in the town of Petaluma and decided to tour some wineries in Russian River Valley. A good choice! There is a broad range of wines from this region, but their Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs are renowned around the world. We visited five wineries and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We hit the following spots: Arista, Gary Farrell, Porter Creek, Russian Hill Estate and Hop Kiln. The gent who provided the tasting at Porter Creek recommended that we stop by Hop Kiln to try their mustard, dressings and dips. Yummy stuff. We bought a couple of bottles (one from each of our favorite wineries - Porter Creek and Russian Hill Estate) to be consumed once we have a reason to celebrate. One is for when we receive our referral and the other for when our case passes through court. Hopefully, we will be able to open both bottles soon!!!

Part III - Visit with the Scotts

After departing Santa Monica, we hopped on Interstate 5 and headed up to Sunnyvale for a quick visit with the fam. On the drive we saw hills, cows and miles of very dry land. In addition, there were a number of small yellow signs that read "Congress Created Dust Bowl". Faced with too little rain and restricted pumping to protect an endangered fish, farmers and ranchers in this area are dealing with draught and dying crops. Along with the feedlots, it was a pretty depressing scene.



Luckily, things got a lot "sunnier" when we arrived at our destination...yummy malaysian food, delicious micro brews and lots of giggles and hugs. Plus were lucky to be there during Rylie's Birthday Week!

Here are some of my favorite photos from our time with them:







Thanks for being great hosts! We miss you all!

Santa Monica

Time to post the 2nd part of our trip out west (which seems like a lifetime ago!). We had the chance to catch up with Eric and I finally got to see his place on Ocean Ave. Beautiful! Mike and I spent a day driving around Hollywood and stopped for a bit to take in the madness of Hollywood Blvd. What a scene - people were camped out on the sidewalk for hours to catch a glimpse of Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx. The red carpet event was the premiere for "Law Abiding Citizen". People love to see famous people walk by, I guess.

We met up with Dave Foy at Barney's Beanery and watched the AL Central tie-breaker between the Twins and Tigers. Eric took me to an art opening for Damien Elwes (a parent of one of his students). The pieces were gorgeous.


Mike took me to his favorite taco stand in the country so we could enjoy the "best" fish tacos.

Before hitting the road, we spent our final hours walking around the pier and enjoying the view of Malibu.

Next stop - Sunnyvale!

WTF

Viva Las Vesseys!

I've been a very busy bee lately. I'm finally back on my couch and able to post some updates from our trip to Vegas and the West Coast. Today's post is all about Vegas. The reason we were there was to celebrate the marriage of Kate and Josh Vessey. Someone last night said "when you're in Vegas, it feels like you're on the moon". Not sure what that feels like, but for me, it's a place that heightens all of my senses except for my common sense.

On the day of the wedding, a group of us just kicked back at the pool and sucked back a mango cocktail (or two). Here are the swinging New Yorkers lathering each other with sunblock.



Congrats to the happy couple! It was a wonderful event and we were so honored to be a part of it. Mike played while Kate came down the aisle. Here he is getting ready for the ceremony (what a handsome man!):



Kate looked absolutely stunning! Here's a photo of Molly, me and Kate during cocktail hour (thanks, Cathy, for taking the pic):



When we all said our farewells and Josh and Kate got ready to head off to Kauai for their honeymoon, we stayed for one more night to catch a show. Cathy, Zack, Molly, Mike and I all went to see The Beatles LOVE (Cirque du Soleil). All I am going to say about the show is if you have the chance, you MUST go and if you don't, you are missing out on something special. We had a great night walking around to various casinos with our micheladas to go. Here were are waiting to see the Bellagio fountain do its thang:



And here is the Bellagio fountain doing its thang:



Our first stop was a blast even though I wasn't feeling 100% healthy. I hate getting older! But, 3 nights in Vegas is PLENTY and I was looking forward to our next stop - Santa Monica. Bye bye Vegas!

It Takes a Village

Sorry, I've been a bad blogger lately. It's been a busy month and I can't believe it's almost October! Today, I hosted a baby shower for Keely, Jeff and baby Mae. Although parties require a lot of work and preparation, it's always more than worth it when the day has come to an end. And as I sit here with my glass of wine, I'm reflecting. The theme for the day was "Pickles and Ice Cream" and we went with a "preppy" color scheme - pink, lime green and white. People are always surprising me with their kindness and generosity. All of the ladies who came to our house were sweet and positive and wonderful. Steph did so much to make this day a success. She not only provided amazing food, but check out the ADORABLE pickle recipe she made for our ice cream scoops (below). Molly came by early to help set up (yeah for balloons!) and she made an excellent cheese platter. Jill and Melissa made delicious food and Meredith brought a gorgeous floral arrangement. Kate brought some wine and Anj made the most incredible cupcakes. She even had a baby with a pickle on his head on one of the cupcakes. We played a game - which went over pretty well and we all consumed mucho food and drink. Jeff truly followed through on his promise to "bartend the sh*t out of this shower". Thanks to the village who made this day memorable. xoxo

Many of the lovely ladies taking in the opening of the gifts...(Melissa - that is an ellipsis) Just kidding! ;)


Cute, Mom-to-be, reading an inscription on a book:


Delicious Anj cupcakes. She's a very talented (and creative) baker!


Our favors - ice cream scoops with the pickle recipe. Jar your own pickles. Do it!


The Game. We played songs throughout the opening of the gifts and people had to name the title and the artist. The word "baby" was in every title. Laura was the winner! 8 out of 12. Go girl!

09 09 09

I love this date. I bet 9 year-olds who celebrated their birthdays today, love this date even more. Apparently, in the numerology community, there is a lot of excitement about this date's significance and how the master number is 11 (they do some funky type of adding and come up with this). In the case of September 9, 2009, 11 shines bright and brings a strong sense of awareness and compassion as well as intuition. There is an undercurrent of interconnectedness, of brotherhood. Or at least, that's what the numerologists think. I can dig that - interconnectedness and SISTERhood.

Speaking of sisterhood...

I spent the long weekend with my best friend and her amazing family and compost-craving dog in Easton, MD. We went to the farmers market, grilled out and spent a day in Annapolis. What a great place! I also had the chance to meet many of their new friends and neighbors at a bbq hosted by a really nice family. They have definitely found some excellent folks in their new 'hood.


Here is Luke enjoying a waffle cone filled with birthday cake flavored ice cream.


Kathy and me at the First Sunday Arts Festival in Annapolis.

Thanks to Geoff for feeding us all weekend. The pizza was delicious. Hope to see you in DC soon!